This dissertation comprises three chapters. The first two address issues within the education system, focusing on strategies to attract and retain high-quality teachers in the public sector. The third chapter, a collaborative effort with Martin Martinez and Miguel Saldarriaga, explores the application of machine learning tools for nowcasting…

Self-referent performance beliefs can influence people's decision making related to long-term goals. Current measures of such beliefs, however, do not explicitly focus on the long-term aspects of goal achievement. We introduce a new concept, Long-Term Prospects (LTP), which is defined as the self-perception that one can maintain the continuous…

The current study aims to examine the way in which teachers' and children's perceptions about their relationships influence children's emergent literacy skills. Participants were 913 children and 114 kindergarten teachers within 72 preschool centers from Greece. The measures used were the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), the Child…

Students' motivational beliefs, such as disciplinary intelligence mindsets, can influence their physics performance and persistence. Intelligence mindset beliefs have long been argued to fall along of continuum between fixed and growth mindsets. Those with fixed physics mindsets believe that ability in physics is innate and unchangable, while…

Background Study: With the rapid transition to remote learning necessitated by the closure of traditional educational infrastructures globally, the arena of informal digital learning of English (IDLE) has received much attention, particularly among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in China. Objective: This study explores how…

Relatively few studies have directly examined children's memory of object-based spatial structure of room-sized environments. The current study investigated how children remember the spatial structure of a room, and the role of pictorial working memory (WM) and different testing perspectives in this process. In Experiment 1, 80 children aged 5 to…

Career paths of entry-level professionals in media fields are more ambiguous and complex than ever before. To make a successful transition into their careers, graduates must possess career management skills; they should be career adaptable. Grounded in a social psychological approach, a survey of college students (N = 320) examined how emotional…

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between flow intelligence (Gf), age and cognitive abilities of processing speed (Comp) of attention (Incomp) and reaction inhibition (Flef) in relation to the level of Mathematical proficiency (MP) of preschool students. Sixty-four kindergarten students participated in the research. Based on…

The present study investigated the interactions of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), foreign language anxiety (FLA), and foreign language enjoyment (FLE) in the foreign language speaking classroom. Data collected from 274 Chinese postgraduate EFL learners showed that the subjects generally had medium to high scores on global trait EI; in…

Purpose: This study sought to 1) identify linguistic features important for Chinese text complexity with a theory-based and systematic approach, and 2) address how feature sets and algorithms affect the performance of Chinese text complexity models. Method: Texts from Chinese language arts textbooks from Grades 1 to 6 (N = 1,478) in Mainland China…

Background/purpose: Psychological well-being is a key factor in student success and a priority in global education reform, as reflected in Sustainable Development Goal 3, which promotes Good Health and Well-being. This study examines the factors influencing university students' perceived well-being in the context of higher education in the United…

Automatically identifying struggling students learning to program can assist teachers in providing timely and focused help. This work presents a new deep-learning language model for predicting "bug-fix-time", the expected duration between when a software bug occurs and the time it will be fixed by the student. Such information can guide…

Purpose: This study examines students' perspectives towards the utilization of information and communication technology (ICT), during this sudden shift to remote online education due to COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. The aim is to identify the predictors of learning outcomes and understand if they are here to exist as the new normal.…

Objective: The aim was to determine the unique predictors of suicide risk in first-year college students. Participants: First-year students (N = 665) at a Midwestern university participated. Methods: An online survey assessed Joiner's interpersonal factors (i.e., thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capability) as well as…

In modern society, academic success is closely associated with achievement. In order to help students realise their potential, it is essential to understand the factors that promote academic success. The research literature indicates several factors that are associated with academic success, including learning strategies, self-direction, and…